By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, as the Cardinals travel to Carleton's West Gym for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Knights.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 4-3 Overall) at Carleton Knights (1-0 MIAC, 3-2 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—December 2, 2017 * Minneapolis, Minn.: The Cardinals fell behind 12-2 before the first quarter was even half over, and Augsburg withstood every Saint Mary's comeback attempt in dealing SMU a 69-59 setback in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at Si Melby Hall | Recap
• Carleton—December 2, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: Katie Chavez scored a career-best 20 points as the Knights opened conference play with a 61-56 victory over St. Catherine at Butler Center | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Carleton—A Year Ago:
• November 30, 2016 * Northfield, Minn.: Talk about a little conference-opening flair for the dramatic. The Cardinals outscored Carleton 14-4 in the final two minutes—the final basket a buzzer-beater by Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) to knot the game at 56-56 and force a five-minute overtime period. And the Cardinals needed all five minutes to seal the win. Carleton scored four of the first six points in OT, and led 60-59—and had the ball—with 18 seconds remaining. The Cardinals promptly forced the Knights into a turnover, setting up Emma Schaefer's (Roseville, Minn.) last-second bank shot from the top of the key that iced the 61-60, come-from-behind win | Recap
• January 25, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's suffered through a nearly nine-minute scoreless drought through most of the first quarter and into the second—and the Cardinals never recovered in falling to the visiting Knights 65-48 at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals return home to the Saint Mary's Gym on Saturday, as Saint Mary's entertains Bethel in a 3 p.m. conference matchup.
• Carleton: The Knights hit the road on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3 p.m. MIAC showdown against Macalester at Leonard Center.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Schedule | 2017-18 Statistics
• Wednesday's game at Carleton is the second of back-to-back road games for the Cardinals, who have played just two of their first seven games at home this season. … Saint Mary's is a perfect 2-0 on its home court this season—having dropped Martin Luther (61-60) and the Saints (76-53). … The Cardinals enter Wednesday's MIAC contest against Carleton having won three of their last five. … With last Wednesday's 76-point effort in a 76-53 win over St. Scholastica, the Cardinals have now scored 60 or more points in 16 of their last 17 wins—the lone exception, a 56-52 win over Macalester on Jan. 4. … Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) poured in a season-high 27 points in the Cardinals' 69-59 loss to Augsburg last Saturday. The 27-point effort was just one shy of her single-game career high—28-point showings against both Bethel and St. Olaf last season. … Blattner has now scored 20 or more points in three straight games—having netted 25 against St. Scholastica last Wednesday and 22 vs. UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 26—and four times this season. … Along with her 27 points, Blattner also hauled in a season-high 15 rebounds en route to her fifth double-double of the season and 23 of her career. … Blattner has now hauled in 10 or more rebounds 30 times over the last three seasons. … Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) recorded a career-best 10 rebounds against Augsburg last Saturday. She is the second Cardinal freshman to post 10 or more boards in a game this season—Abby Winter (Winona, Minn.) notched an 11-rebound effort in Saint Mary's season-opening win over Martin Luther on Nov. 15. … Winter scored a career-high 15 points and missed her first collegiate double-double by one rebound against St. Scholastica last Wednesday. … The Cardinals put a season-high five players in double figures in their 74-70 win over the University of Dubuque on Nov. 21—including career-highs of 12 points from Savannah Bleess (Kenyon, Minn.) and 10 from Kedl. … Saint Mary's boasts four players who have recorded single-game career highs of 10 or more points this season—Winter (15), Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis. / 15), Bleess (12), and Kedl (10). … Blattner (19.0 ppg) and Alexa Huisman (Adrian, Minn. / 11.5 ppg) enter Wednesday's conference game against Carleton averaging in double figures. … Blattner also leads the team in rebounds with 72 (10.3 rpg). … Saint Mary's boasts five players—Blattner (17), Kirsten Keefe (Chatfield, Minn. 15), Schmeling (14), Ewelina Schlomann (New Berlin, Wis. / 14), and Bleess (11)—with 10 or more assists. … Blattner holds the team lead in steals with 10, one more than Keefe. … The Cardinals, who finished with 141 3-pointers a year ago, knocked down a season-best 13 treys against UM-Morris on Nov. 18. … The Cardinals' 13 3-pointers vs. UM-Morris on Nov. 18 are the most since raining in 14 against St. Catherine on Jan. 22, 2005. … Saint Mary's has drained 52 3-pointers through seven games—with 11 different players knocking down at least one. … Huisman leads the Cardinals with 20 3-pointers. … Saint Mary's had six different players net a 3-pointer against UM-Morris on Nov. 18. … The Cardinals enter Wednesday's game at Carleton averaging 66.7 ppg, while limiting their opponents to a 63.9 scoring average. … Two of Saint Mary's four wins this season have been decided by four points or less—61-60 over Martin Luther on Nov. 15 and 74-70 over the University of Dubuque on Nov. 21. … Saint Mary's one-point victory over Martin Luther on Nov. 15 was its second one-point win in the last two years—with both being decided by a 61-60 final score. The Cardinals dropped Carleton 61-60 in overtime last season. … The Cardinals' 81-point effort against UM-Morris on Nov. 18 was a season-high, and the most since scoring 81 in an 81-79 win over Augsburg on Jan. 11, 2017. The last time Saint Mary's scored more than 81 points was during the 2015-16 season, when the Cardinals scored 85 in beating St. Olaf 85-56 on Feb. 13, 2016. … With their 61-60 win over Martin Luther on Nov. 15, the Cardinals have now won their season-opener in each of their last six seasons, dating back to a 63-58 loss to Elmhurst on Nov. 22, 2011.
 
Scouting The Carleton Knights:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Statistics | 2017-18 Schedule
• Following Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's, the Knights will play their next four contests on the road. Carleton is 2-1 on its home court, while going 1-1 away from West Gym. … Katie Chavez netted a career-high 20 points in the Knights' 61-56 victory over St. Catherine last Saturday. … Seventeen of Chavez's 20 points against St. Catherine last Saturday came in the first half. … Chavez knocked down six 3-pointers vs. the Wildcats—the second-highest single-game effort in Carleton program history. … Nia Harris finished with a career-high 12 points and Samantha Cooke also scored in double figures vs. St. Catherine last Saturday, chipping in 11 points—including seven in the fourth quarter. … Anne Hamilton posted team-highs in rebounds (12) and assists (4) against St. Catherine last Saturday. … Cooke enters Wednesday's MIAC game against Saint Mary's averaging a team-best 12.0 ppg, while Chavez is also averaging in double figures at 11.4 ppg. … Carleton boasts three players—Cece Leone (7.8 ppg), Sarah Waldfogel (7.8 ppg), and Harris (7.4 ppg)—who are averaging just over seven points-per-game. … Chavez and Leone have led, or shared the team lead, in scoring through the first five games of the season. … Hamilton has hauled in a team-high 57 rebounds (11.4 rpg) through five games. … Hamilton owns three games of 10 or more rebounds this season—posting 10 against UW-River Falls, 19 vs. Northwestern, and 12 against St. Catherine. … Leone has dished out a team-leading 13 assists, two more than Hamilton, with Leone and Harris sharing the team lead in steals with five. … As a team, Carleton is shooting 36 percent from the field (111-for-307) and have knocked down 22 3-pointers. … Chavez has accounted for 10 of the team's 22 3-pointers. … Carleton is averaging 59.2 ppg, while limiting its opponents to a 51.4 ppg scoring average. … The Knights netted a season-high 73 points in a 73-39 win over Crown on Nov. 24, while Calvin's 73 points in its 73-61 win were the most allowed by Carleton this season.